Ohio State expects the unexpected vs. Minnesota

Minnesota running back DeLeon Eskridge (23) runs for nine yards as Penn State defensive tackle Ollie Ogbu (85) defends, during the second half of a NCAA college football game, Saturday Oct. 23, 2010 in Minneapolis.
Penn State won 33-21. ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS -- When all else fails -- and in case no one has noticed in Minnesota, it has -- try the kitchen sink.

Jeff Horton, interim coach of the flailing Minnesota Golden Gophers, didn't use those exact words when talking about his team's upcoming game against nationally ranked Ohio State, but he came close.

The Golden Gophers (1-7, 0-3 in the Big Ten) will host 10th-ranked Ohio State (7-1, 3-1) tonight at 8 p.m. Those in attendance or tuned in on television should expect the unexpected from Minnesota.

"I think the big thing when you play a team like Ohio State, you've got to be in attack mode," Horton said earlier this week.

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"You've got to go at them right from the very start. If you sit back and wait for something to happen or sit back and expect them to make a mistake, you've got no chance."

History suggests Minnesota's chances are slim anyway.

Ohio State is the one Big Ten team Minnesota has had the least success playing, with the Buckeyes leading the overall series, 42-7.

Minnesota's last win over OSU came in 2000. The Buckeyes have won the last seven meetings by an average margin of 23 points.

That's domination at it's peak. Hence the kitchen sink mentality.

"Obviously, the odds are stacked against us," Horton said. "We're not ammune to that. ... But as long as the game doesn't get canceled, we've got a chance to win it. I'ts our job to get our kids to believe in that and to do that."

Not a lot has gone right for Minnesota after a 24-17 win over Middle Tennessee State to start the season.

Defensively, the Golden Gophers haven't held a team to less than 28 points since the opener.

Their defense is ninth in the league in scoring defense, giving up 32.5 points per game, and last in rushing defense, surrendering more than 200 yards per game.

The best thing Minnesota has going for it is senior quarterback Adam Weber, who last week became the fifth Big Ten quarterback of all time to surpass the 10,000-yard mark in career passing.

Weber, the consumate leader, said of Ohio State, "They're football players, too. They put their pads on the same way we do. We respect them greatly, but we have to have confidence in our own abilities to go out there and beat those guys."

When told that OSU coach Jim Tressel mentioned that he had nightmares of Weber, the Minnesota quarterback said, "Keeping him up late at night is a good thing."

Tressel expects Minnesota to be aggressive, as well.

He noted out the Golden Gophers had 27 first downs last week in a 33-21 loss to Penn State, showing an ability to move the ball, and also saw a more active defense.

Ohio State enters the game averaging 392 yards and 32.5 point per game in Big Ten play so far, and Tressel expects Minnesota to do all it can to stop that from happening on Saturday.

"They seem to have dialed up a little bit more of their pressure package in this last game or so than they did earlier in the year," Tressel said.

The only certainty is that Minnesota isn't going to just lay down. Both Tressel and Horton confirmed that.

"It's going to be a title fight," Horton said. "We told the kids in the team meeting, 'You've got to start throwing punches or the result won't be good.'"